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Saturday, March 17, 2007

Get Polar

Catching up on my podcasts, I listened to
Jon Udell's interview with Steve Vinoski
on the way to work yesterday. At at 20:09, Jon asks Steve something to the effect,
wouldn't it have been better if sides in the REST vs. WS-* debate weren't so polarized?
Steve replies back
"the polarization has opened a lot of eyes that may not have happened otherwise".
He's so right.

I frequently play's devil's advocate, simply to get new thoughts injected into
a conversation. It's way too easy to just nod your head and say 'uh huh'.
Remember,
innovation happens elsewhere.

There's an interesting twist here, also, regarding persuasion.
Robert Cialdini, in Influence: The Psychology of Persuasion,
talks about reciprocation. In trying to persuade someone, start with an offer you know they will refuse.
Follow-on offers that are more attractive, won't seem nearly as outrageous; you've changed the expection
level. Additionally, in your follow-on offers, you've actually 'given' something to the offeree;
you've lowered the cost of the offer.
People don't like to be in debt to other people, and will frequently expend more than the debt is worth to
remove the debt.